Experts raise concerns about tampon applicators being excluded from federal plastics ban

Debris, including a tampon applicator and a syringe lie along the shore of the St. Lawrence River Friday, November 13, 2015 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

TORONTO — Some environmentalists are raising concerns about tampon applicators being left off the list of single-use plastics being banned in Canada by 2021, despite being frequently found in shoreline cleanups.

Cigarette butts and food wrappers are the largest culprits, however, menstrual products account for roughly one per cent of shoreline litter and University of Toronto ecology professor Chelsea Rochman says plastic tampon applicators still present an issue for the environment.

"I did a cleanup for Earth Day in Halifax a few years ago, out in the harbour around the beach [and] there was a ridiculous amount of tampon applicators. It was one of the most common things that we saw there," Rochman told CTVNews.ca during a telephone interview on Tuesday from Toronto.

Rochman explained that like all other forms of plastic waste, tampon applicators don't easily degrade and when they do, they break down into smaller pieces called microplastics that can easily pass through water filtration systems and into oceans, posing a potential threat to humans and wildlife.

"It's those large amount of small particles that we're really concerned about right now in terms of risk," Rochman said.

Despite the impact on the environment, tampon applicators and menstrual product packaging have been excluded in the upcoming Canadian ban on single-use plastics.

The federal government said in a statement to CTVNews.ca that plastic tampon applicators did not meet the criteria to be included as one of the items in next year's ban.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says a single-use plastic item must meet the following criteria to be a candidate for a potential ban:

"The Government has proposed to ban or set restrictions on certain harmful single-use plastics that meet these criteria," Environment and Climate Change Canada spokesperson Veronica Petro said in an email. "If there is evidence that other plastic single-use items meet this criteria or require management, other measures could be considered."

But Rochman argues that tampon applicators do check all of those boxes.

Tampons are found in the environment and there are alternative options, such as tampons with a cardboard applicator or no applicator at all, Rochman said.

"That means that that plastic applicator is not essential," she added.

Sarah King, who leads Greenpeace Canada's Oceans and Plastics campaign, told CTVNews.ca that Canada's ban should include all non-essential single-use plastics, not just six items.

"While plastic tampon applicators are not the most common form of plastic pollution, they are a consistent one and the ban list should include all non-essential single-use plastics that are known polluters and waste generators," King said in an email on Tuesday.

King explained that the flushing of personal hygiene products continues to be a "major problem" for sewage systems, wastewater treatment efforts and aquatic environments.

“Whether it's a lack of awareness or forgetfulness by the person using them or a simple mistake, producers of menstrual products need to be designing product options that do not pose a pollution threat and do not create unnecessary waste,” she said.

According to U.K. organization Friends of the Earth, menstrual pads are made up of up to 90 per cent plastic and nearly all tampons produced globally contain some plastic.

The organization predicts that a person who menstruates will throw away approximately 400 pounds of packaging from these products. That waste often ends up in landfills and waterways because people are flushing the applicators down the toilet.

GOING GREEN

In recent years, the menstruation industry has taken steps towards becoming more sustainable.

According to a 2018 report, 59 per cent of people who menstruate are either using some form of alternative including reusable pads and period underwear or are considering it.

While most tampons come with a plastic applicator, there are products that instead use cardboard or don't have an applicator at all. Another popular alternative is a menstrual cup.

Menstrual cups are sanitary products that collect blood flow instead of absorbing it. A menstrual cup can last up to 10 years, according to a scientific review published in The Lancet Public Health Journal.

While there are eco-friendly alternatives on the market, Jane McArthur, an environmental sociology researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Windsor, told CTVNews.ca that the companies behind traditional menstrual products need to do more.

"We need to be looking at different materials to be creating menstrual products so that we're not leaving this horrible environmental legacy and that we're not creating health impacts on the environment and ourselves as humans in the production of these products," McArthur said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

She says consumers are also putting pressure on companies to change how menstrual products are produced.

An online petition by Ontario-based environmental advocacy group A Greener Future has nearly 150,000 signatures urging manufacturers to stop producing plastic tampon applicators.

While there is interest in reusable products and other menstruation alternatives, McArthur says there also needs to be more education for girls, young women and their parents.

"We're still not really comfortable talking about things like menstruation... In many ways we need to stop creating a stigma around women's bodies, we need to stop mystifying, and we need to start looking at women's bodies and women's health as normal," McArthur said.

"Through that conversation then we can talk upfront about the products that women use and why we need them to be more environmentally friendly," she added.

With women's health being a traditionally taboo topic, McArthur says problems around menstrual products are systemically misconstrued as "problems of individual choice."

By not talking more openly about menstruation, McArthur said companies and governments can get away with not addressing the environmental impacts associated with women's health.

"If we can keep menstruation in the closet, then that puts the onus of responsibility on individual girls and women to make choices about what products they're using," she said.